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Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

Trailing by three with just over five minutes left, a clean block of Louisville’s Peyton Siva in the NCAA title game was going to give Michigan a chance to tie the game in the final minutes.

Instead, Burke was called for a foul with 5:09 remaining, Siva hit both free throws, and Michigan never got within one possession again, losing the championship, 82-76, last month in Atlanta.

At the NBA predraft camp this week, the pair revisited the moment.

“He came up to me and said, ‘You didn’t have to pin my shot up against the glass like that,’” Burke said today, after running through the drills but not participating in workouts. “I just laughed; we both laughed. It’s over with now, but it will be something that’s always on our minds.”

Burke said he replayed it in his head “a lot, and I replayed it on TV a lot. It could have went either way. I felt like it was a clean block, and the ref felt I got some body into him. But it’s over with. That play will go down in history; that game will go down in history.”

“I told him today, ‘Trey, I wasn’t going to mention this on Instagram or Twitter, but I was like, man, I feel that was a good block,’” Siva said. “I said, ‘I’ve seen how mad you were afterward,’ and I just walked to the free throw line, sunk my two free throws and went about the game. Afterward, I was going to tell you, but you looked a little bit upset.”

Then the wry smile came out.

“To answer your question, I’m going to have to agree with the ref and the call,” Siva said, grinning. “He made the foul call. I can’t go back in time and change it.”

Burke, whose vertical leap was among the lowest among guards in today’s testing, figures that block was a representation of his skills.

“My adrenaline was pumping, and I was just excited,” Burke said. “When I saw him go up, I knew I was going to try to go get it. I definitely think it was higher than what I got up today.”

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FAMOUS FRIENDS:After the Louisville loss, Burke said LeBron James hit him up with a text message to say how impressed he was.

“It was a real moment,” he said. “At the same time, I know I’m going to have to be playing against him here in the next year. I didn’t view that text in that type of way. But it was good that he reached out to me and let me know I had a great season and now it’s time to refocus and get on the grind.”

Burke said he texts Chris Paul regularly and speaks to former Michigan State star Draymond Green as well.

ANOTHER RICE:Glen Rice Jr. might have the famous name, but he’s not following his father’s traditional path to the NBA.

The elder Glen Rice starred at Michigan and was the No. 4 overall pick in 1989, but his son is still finding his way.

He took a detour after getting kicked off Georgia Tech’s team at the end of the 2011-12 season — he had a DUI and a gun charge — and decided to turn pro last fall.

That put him in the NBA Developmental League, where he starred this past season as the third-leading scorer at 35 points per game and now is shooting up the draft boards, potentially as a solid first-rounder after a year of no problems.

“It was a big thing I was trying to prove,” Rice Jr. said. “I know I had a bad reputation being in the wrong place, doing the wrong things. The one main thing I wanted to change around was to let people know that wasn’t me. I’m just working to show I keep my slate as clean as possible.”

His father is the lone honored jersey at Crisler Center from the past 30 years and a Michigan basketball legend, but he never grew up a Michigan fan in Georgia.

But he has been able to ask his father questions during the pre-draft process

“That’s my father, someone I can talk to, along with other people in my family,” Rice Jr. said. “He can be vocal support and because he was in the NBA he can tell me some of the things that have gone on and he’s been helpful.”